Hey There!
Since music is a vital part of our lives and we encounter it wherever we go, it is such a privilege to be able to teach and help others grow in their knowledge & skill of music. Whether we create, read, interpret, compose, or develop, it is all part of a wonderful journey of progressing in our love for music, this wonderful art form. At Forte, it is our desire to have lessons that are Excellent, Encouraging and Enthusiastic.
- Donna and the Forte Music Studio Team
How Forte Got Started
While Forte became a company in 2017, I’d been teaching piano and advancing in my own music learning for many years prior to that. Age six was when I started piano lessons and remember that while a child it was my go-to pastime. I played often, sight-read, accompanied and stuck to the piano. I graduated from Houghton College with a music degree and thoroughly enjoyed teaching at ELCO for several years before I had my own children.
While raising our own family, I had anywhere from 5 to 18 students at different times from 1994 - 2016, all coming to our living room. As my own children grew, so did the studio and we began looking for other locations that would allow growth. We moved to the Myerstown Community Center in July of 2021 with one room and quickly added the 2nd room. For the first time Forte offered an alternative to piano –guitar, later that year.
Since then we have grown to ten teachers and three classrooms in the Community Center with over 125 current students. Hundreds of students have been impacted through the 30 years of teaching. Forte teaches young children, older adults and everyone in between. Many of our students are learning piano, but other instruments include violin, voice, guitar, banjo, viola, cello, mandolin or dulcimer. Forte has added the preschool classes, from 18-months old to pre-K, solo & group lessons, & summer music enrichment camps.
We do not have magic formulas or pixie dust to sprinkle on those on those who instantly want to play like the guy on youtube, but with perseverance, lots of patience and hard work, we can encourage young and old to engage in music, a wonderful gift given to us by a kind God, a language of the soul.
May we as a team be EXCELLENT, ENCOURAGING and ENTHUSIASTIC,
working to the glory of God, in all we do!
